Lmst

really love using `task` (https://taskfile.dev/) everywhere on my systems and projects 😎

#justsaying #tooloftheday #tools #opensource #task #taskfile #softwaredevelopment

It-can’t-be-Wednesday-already #ToolOfTheDay. This one costs nothing more than paint. If you need to make jumper wires to go onto 2.54mm (0.1 inch) spaced holes, mark up a pair of tweezers with lines corresponding to N holes (1,2,3 etc). Now you can make accurate bends by gripping the wire adjacent to the mark.

Tweezers marked with lines at the point where the width is one two and three times the pitch of the required bends

A piece of wire held in tweezers at the “two” marker

A piece of wire bent to fit two units of a 0.1 inch pitch prototyping board

Wednesday #ToolOfTheDay - this power bank tops out at 12v 2A, so not ideal for laptops, but for phones, soldering and other duties its simplicity calls to me. Cram in 20 Amp-hours of 18650 cells (1s8p), and it delivers power and information about what it's delivering. Has USB 2*A, 1xC, 1xuAB, 1xFuckYouApple sockets. BYO cells.

https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_okipmYz

A USB power bank that holds eight 18650 lithium cells. It has a display which reports state of charge, voltage and current. It can deliver up to 12v (also 9v or 5v) at up to 22.5 watts.

Tuesday #ToolOfTheDay: Hemostats (surgical clamps) are great when you need to hold something really tight, but it’s almost always too tight; your clamps might cause circuit gangrene. Silicone wire is an exception, it’s really tough and so floppy that extra hands are a must. For a gentler clamping action print these sliding collars for your tweezers. (My design avail on request).

ETA: files https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:7017960

Tweezers apply precise pressure via a sliding collar.

A pair of hemostats hold silicone coated wire in place for soldering to a battery management boards. Try this with PVC wire and you might damage the insulation.

Monday #ToolOfTheDay: your PCB vise is the tool you always forget you have, you should use it more. BUT ALSO, when you have to hold something REALLY small, put some tweezers in the vise. When the thing you are trying to hold falls out for the 80th time, turn the vise upside down.

ETA: link https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_mKPlJKx

A double ended PCB vise, holding a pair of tweezers in one end. The tweezer tips protrude from the side of the vise.

An upside down pcb vise, a pair of tweezers and a scalpel handle form an ersatz micromanipulator

A 2mm wide 4-pin tactile switch is held still for soldering fly leads to the switch for SEKRIT PROJECT

Tuesday #ToolOfTheDay #StraightOuttaShenzen - this sub-$10 battery soldering iron. Now I have a TS80 and two or three other portable irons, and this iron is no TS80. BUT BUT it is cordless and when you need to do a quick touch up or a couple of joints, it does the job, and it charges off USB-C. #BananaPlugForScale

https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_oEaQXy7

A petite cordless soldering iron sits on the deck of a macbook. It's handle is about the size of 2xAA cells, it has a silver button, no screen and a replaceable tip.

Interesting #ToolOfTheDay... just discovered SlackPirate, a tool to enumerate and exfiltrate sensitive data from Slack workspaces. It helps red-teamers identify security risks and helps blue-teamers detect and prevent sensitive data leaks.

Check it out: https://buff.ly/2QuEe5z

#GitHub #GitRepo #OpenSource #Cybersecurity #InfoSec #Slack #Privacy

#ToolOfTheDay Large Seam Ripper

The fastest and safest way bar none to clean your vacuum beater bar of hair.

One or two swipes and it's cut. The majority of the hair will now pull out in one or two rotations of the bar. A little plucking of the brushes and it's clean as new.

Takes a minute or two tops.

I keep mine on a duct tape 'holster' on the vacuum handle.

#cleaning #chores #vacuum

Seam ripper with black handle and red tip protector leaned up against the underside of a vacuum beater bar.

Two minutes ago you could barely see the end of the bristles due to the amount of (extremely long) hair wound around the bar. Now it's clean as a whistle.

Seam ripper transparent protective end cap duct taped to vacuum handle.

The seam ripper 'clicks' in and out of the cover so it stays attached to the handle (most of the time).

#ToolOfTheDay is actually a source of free tools.

Ask your dentist what they do with their worn out dental pick/probes. Usually they are reconditioned/sharpened some number of times and then deemed not suitable for use.

If you can get your dentist to collect the ones due to be tossed for your next visit, you will have a fine collection of very handy surgical quality items.

I have a pair of forceps that I got this way 50 years ago (worn grip teeth). I still use them regularly.

#ToolOfTheDay is a cheap bag of hair elastics.

Great for certain situations in dry fitting as well as bundling small cables. Lots of other uses for a couple of bucks.

Just don't solder too close to them or they will snap, likely emitting a noxious smell and a spray of molten solder as your project falls apart.

A project dry fitted together with an elastic band holding four neopixel sticks firmly against a mounting structure.

A bag of about a million more hair elastics is to the left in the image.

#ToolOfTheDay this $6 pick up claw for all your nightmare needs. And getting that irreplaceable screw or earring out of the sink.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001067854065.html

Affiliate link: https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DBKG0Zb

#ToolOfTheDay - Aldi Ferrex cordless glue gun, uses xfinity 20v batteries interchangeable with other tools in the range.

DO NOT BUY. You could melt the glue faster by rubbing two sticks together.

Bonus recommendation: every other cordless glue gun I've tried has been shit also (bunnings brands; poor battery managmenet ruins cells). Anyone got a cordless hot-melt-glue gun that does NOT suck?

Lynis: Open-source security auditing tool for Linux, BSD and MacOS #tooloftheday https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2024/03/19/lynis-open-source-security-auditing-tool/

Mount tar files with random access, writeable overlay filesystem, fuse options, etc.
https://github.com/mxmlnkn/ratarmount
#tooloftheday

Today in Cute: this¹ petite double ended ratchet. Drives 1/4” sockets and hex bits. 72 tooth ratchet. Divine. #ToolOfTheDay

¹ https://a.aliexpress.com/_mPiEINK

A double ended ratchet that fits in your palm. Square drive for sockets one end, hex drive for screwdriver bits the other end.

Get yourself this #ToolOfTheDay, an “Is this USB cable cursed” tester. Cursed (power only no data) cables get marked both ends with a paint marker to avoid future tears.

https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_mKta2Uy

A USB cable tester showing two of four lights lit, indicating that the cable under test is power-only.

Thursday #ToolOftheDay : this¹ battery powered Ultra-viole(n)t lamp cures UV resin in 5-10 seconds. I use it for circuit board repair, immobilizing wires and general gluing. #BananaPlugForScale

¹ https://a.aliexpress.com/_mOn9HvU

An ultraviolet lamp with buoy in usb chargeable battery. It is a lozenge 40mm square by just a bit taller and has four legs in the corners that create about 5mm clearance under the lamp. It is intended to be mounted placed atop a circuit board to cure adhesive.

A small switch with wires soldered to pads on the switch and then insulated using a layer of unixbigot resin. In the background is the jar of resin, not unlike any other 200ml glue bottle. The bottle is black for opacity.

#ToolOfTheDay - awl and fid. What lovely words those are.

An awl (a spike with a handle) and a fid (a kind of giant hollow needle used with rope) on top of some netting that has been laced to aluminium bar with paracord.

My #ToolOfTheDay is this DC and USB-PD powered soldering iron. Runs off any 12-24v barrel jack or via USB power delivery. After being disappointed by both the reliability and USB-compatibility of the popular TS-80 Iron, I'm pleased to report that this¹ far cheaper "T-12" iron has met all my criteria. It heats fast even from 12v, and its thermostat reacts instantly. Its power use drops to almost zero when idling, and it heats up instantly when needed. A wide range of tips, I started with the big honking chisel tip and may never switch to the fine tip, as I found the chisel very versatile and with power right at the tip.

¹ https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005474928341.html

A pencil-type soldering iron connected by a USB-C cable to a power bank. Its display has been switched to left-handed mode.

#ToolOfTheDay, with all the thanks to Robert

#tooloftheday

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